She is in a class by herself as a superb psychological novelist for whom plot is secondary. The wych elm has a notoriety that must have given French a kernel of plot inspiration. The tree is technically a wych elm, but don’t look that up. It anchors a garden so lush that as you sink into this book, you can practically feel tendrils twisting around you. Stately, 200 years old and burned into the collective memory of the Hennessys, this tree embodies the family’s idea of stability. The title tree in “The Witch Elm,” the Irish writer Tana French’s best and most intricately nuanced novel yet, is a mysterious character in its own right.
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